The Commonwealth Games are underway, with the opening ceremony now complete. The Scottish city of Glasgow is playing host to athletes from around what was once the British Empire.

While the Queen may not have a stronghold on all the nations competing, it is an opportunity for international competition for nations from throughout the British commonwealth.

Glasgow is hosting the 20th version of the Games, which being in 1930 under the name of the Empire Games. The Scots, who will soon vote on their own independence, will hope to avoid the controversy that plagued the last version in India.

The Commonwealth Games return to Scotland. Photo: Glasgow 2014/Facebook

Scottish First Minister Alex Salmon said during the ceremony, “Tonight’s spectacular opening ceremony has been a fitting start to the biggest cultural and sporting celebration Scotland has ever seen.

“As we all look forward to 11 days of sporting achievement and excellence, I want to wish the hundreds of athletes from the 71 participating Commonwealth nations and territories the very best of luck.”

The medals will be up for grabs from the first day of competitive action, with possibilities for success in swimming, judo, weightlifting, triathlon, rhythmic gymnastics and track cycling. There will also be preliminary action in athletics, hockey, lawn bowls, netball, squash and table tennis.

After a successful London Olympic Games, the individual elements of the United Kingdom will be looking to overcome Australia’s enduring reign at the top of the Commonwealth Games table.

The Australian team have been ahead in that list ever since the 1990 Games in Auckland. The Australian team will also be looking to build ahead of hosting the event on the Gold Coast in 2018.

Almost 5,000 athletes from 71 countries will take part in the Commonwealth Games. The closing ceremony will take place on August 3.

Thursday marked the first presentation for Sport/Life, part of the debut Ignite Santiago event. The event brought a wide range of people together, talking about their passions. Some talked about their personal projects, things that have been done, things that will happen, while others talked about some more personal areas of their lives.

Over the past week Sport/Life has been helping Englishman Kyle Waller with his project The Homeless Goal. Thanks to funding from One World Media and Bournemouth University, Kyle has been able to visit Chile to film a documentary about the Homeless World Cup and Chile’s Futbol Calle program, run by sports marketing group Acción Total.

Photos by Kyle Waller

Santiago’s Plaza de Armas was converted into three football fields, with football tennis and other activities on offer. We also had the chance to get some of the children involved in playing footbag.

The Homeless World Cup and street soccer campaigns have provided away for many homeless and excluded people to find a positive way to reintegrate with society and improve their lives. Chile’s team are special guests this week in Times Square as part of the national championships in the United States.

With just days to go until the 2013 Apertura season kicks off, Sport/Life has looked at the form of teams coming into the season. We will used the group stages of the Copa Chile competition, as well as performances in the regular season in 2012 and 2013 to create the base for the ranking.

A new ranking will be prepared every week. With the final encounters of the group stage in the Copa Chile still to come, the rankings table has a number of surprises due to poor performances from some of the leading clubs.

Positive results in the Copa Chile see four Primera B teams in the top 10 of the ranking.